Forests Under Siege By Global MNCs: Effects of Deforestation

Abstract

As human greed knows no bounds, in forests worldwide, there is a buzz of chainsaws, which is heard alongside the chirping of native birds. If kept unchecked, this increased rate of deforestation has far-reaching implications for the whole climate. Each year, a considerable amount of forest land is converted for agricultural use by multinational corporations (MNCs), seeking ever higher revenues backed up by the world’s leading financial institutions. Cattle ranching and palm oil are the big propagators of deforestation in the rich rainforests of Latin America and Southeast Asia, causing unprecedented consequences for the earth and its inhabitants. The slew of issues caused by deforestation includes droughts, floods, less rain, fewer crops, increasing temperatures, and the overall destruction of biodiversity. This paper aims to find the linkages between the businesses and actors involved along the supply chains and how this deforestation is becoming a bigger and bigger problem with time.

Introduction

Deforestation is the intentional or unintentional clearing, cutting, or burning of trees. It occurs mostly in regions inhabited by trees, but it is most common in rainforests worldwide. All over the world, be it the Amazon Rainforest or the Arctic, forests are up in flames and are being destroyed. The climate problem is no longer a hypothetical situation but a reality. Forests are the planet’s defence line against climate change. Forests significantly regulate global temperature and prevent global warming from becoming uncontrollable. Forests are home to many indigenous peoples and are the sanctuaries for a rich trove of biodiversity. Despite this, forests are being destroyed and burned at an astonishing speed. Agribusiness is the principal cause of deforestation, with palm oil and cattle farming being the biggest contributors. 

The development route adopted by countries with rich forests is to convert them for agricultural use or other such methods. Devastating fires have raged over the Brazilian Amazon in recent years, threatening the world’s largest and most highly biodiverse rainforest. The Indonesian rainforests are no different. The ancient Indonesian rainforests of Kalimantan and Sumatra are ravaged by annual fires aimed to clear land for palm oil plantations. Not even the Siberian and Alaskan ice areas are safe, as they have also been victims of enormous wildfires. It is a wonder why humans still choose to stay ignorant, as the greed of some is already affecting us all.  Questions need to be raised about why forests are burning and who should be blamed, not by a few but by all. 

Find more statistics at Statista

Rainforests are among the largest forests worldwide; amongst them are the ones that dig deep into the ground and spread their wings miles and miles. These are the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Papua New Guinea rainforests. These forests have remained virgin for thousands of years, but as human greed knows no bounds, there is a buzz of chainsaws heard alongside the chirping of the native birds. Throughout the tropical regions, forest fires rage, and trees are chopped down by chainsaws, as cattle ranchers and farmers compete for more land that belongs either to the government or to the indigenous people. This land hunger, fuelled by commodities trading big players and international investment firms, seeks ever-higher revenues from global markets in the European Union, the United States, China, and elsewhere. 

Deforestation is made possible by money flowing to risky industries, particularly harmful agribusinesses. If a farmer chops a few trees to herd his 10 cows, it is fine, but not when a hundred thousand trees are cut to farm a thousand cows, while the whole supply chains are involved. Deforestation is made possible by a complicated web of businesses and dishonest players, backed by international financial institutions and a lack of state regulations. This leads to the destruction of climate-sensitive forests that are extremely important in saving the planet. Investigations indicate how reckless agribusinesses are a significant driver of deforestation, as large corporations aim to maximize profits at any cost from items like meat, palm oil, timber, and rubber.

The tropical forests and the communities and ecosystems that thrive there are being destroyed by irresponsible enterprises, particularly financial organizations. However, hidden from the shocked gaze of global television viewers, such events play out each year in rainforests worldwide to pave the way for corporate agriculture. Distraction techniques are being used worldwide by businesses dependent on seeking to exploit the earth, from lumber industries to Oil Companies and the investment firms that fund them, to halt or avert the kind of movement needed to stop the disastrous effects of climate change.

Deforestation As Global Issue

Forests are an important ecosystem asset; they regulate the climate and provide fresh water and clean air. Forests are helping keep global warming at bay; they absorb carbon from the air and hold the greatest capacity for carbon storage. Forests provide sanctuaries to many native species; as such, they are home to a wide array of flora and fauna. Forests are also the ancestral home of many indigenous communities around the world. In addition, billions of people depend on forests for food, fuel, medicine, and shelter. Many sectors are affiliated with the forest, such as the forestry sector, which provides jobs to millions of people. Similarly, a large range of goods can be linked to the forests. 

Forests are a great cause of perpetuating the water cycle, as they help release water into the atmosphere. Rain falls two to three months earlier, before the seasonal winds bring moisture from the ocean into these rainforests.  Trees are the agent of this earlier rain in the rainforests. Clouds form over the rainforests due to transpiration, as trees release water through their pores. And as rain falls from the clouds, it leads to warmth in the atmosphere, and as such, the air stirs and triggers circulation. This cycle causes a shift in wind patterns to bring in additional moisture from the sea. As a result, preserving tropical rainforests aids in the battle against climate change while also preventing droughts. 

As trees start to disappear, the forest will turn into a barren land. Today, forests around the world are under siege. They burn with a cry for help and vanish without being heard, for the only living beings with reasoning abilities are busy stacking money.  Economic expansion has put tremendous strain on forests worldwide, especially in the tropics. The very ability of the rainforest to soak up water, conserve it, and regenerate it as the large-scale clearance disrupts rainfall. These forests quickly go from being resistant to fire to being prone to burning when the earth dries out and the tree canopy is gone. But the humid conditions of the tropics do not allow the burning, so the easiest way to clear out the forest land, is to cut the trees and bushes, let it dry out for a month or two and then let it burn, as the thin barked trees of the rainforests have no resilience to the flames, once they dry out. Nigel Sizer, the chief program officer of the Rainforest Alliance, explained it as “One of the most traumatic things you can do to an ecosystem.”

Worse, the cutting down of trees is accelerating each year to produce crops, raise cattle, and earn money from lumber and other forest commodities. To meet the ever-increasing global demand, countries frequently rely on the exploitation of natural resources and agricultural intensification. While it is accurate that most deforestation happens in underdeveloped countries, it is driven primarily by demands from highly developed countries. Deforestation can result in a major global problem. The menace of deforestation and the change of land for other such uses can lead to immediate socio-economic and environmental impacts. Ironically, deforestation is also the second-largest cause of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and contributes significantly to climate change.

Find more statistics at Statista

Agriculture is a primary cause of the rise of deforestation. The world’s increasing population has enabled big business to gain profits by clearing forests to plant huge plantations of soy and palm. Simultaneously, on a somewhat smaller scale, peasant farmers frequently cut trees to plant crops to support their families and earn modest sums of money. Over 86% of total tropical deforestation from 2010 to 2015 was due to agricultural development, whether large-scale production or as a way of improving agriculture. To make space for cattle farming or agriculture like soy and palm oil, agribusinesses destroy enormous sections of natural forest. Tropical deforestation was recorded at its worst in Brazil and Indonesia, with vast forest areas removed in other South American and Asian states. With the emergence of new deforestation regions in the Congo Basin and West Africa, deforestation in Africa is also rising.

You will find more infographics at Statista

 Role Of Multi-National Corporations

Deforestation in producing commodities like palm oil accounts for up to 78% of forest cover loss in Southeast Asian states. Given this, it is no surprise that many corporations and financial institutions proudly proclaim ethical business practices, guaranteeing they will not finance companies that cut down and burn valuable rainforests. However, the same institutions frequently violate their guidelines at will, rendering them worthless. Hence, traceability in the supply chain can be difficult, including for all commodities. Still, it becomes hard for certain commodities to link a particular product back to its source since different elements are mixed at production plants. Traceability is vital in the fight against deforestation as it provides knowledge and clarity among people involved and connects supply-chain players to production locations. Besides data revealed at customs clearings or as a piece of a certificate or pledge progress report, many details on commodity production and processing are proprietary, which poses a significant obstacle to expanding traceability.

Businesses burning down forests to make space for palm oil, meat, and rubber can acquire commercially appealing funding for their projects from financial hubs in the United States, Europe, and Asia. A study by Global Witness has revealed the enormous amount and extent of the money flows, as well as how a veritable A-Z of global finance is facilitating the demise of the world’s largest rainforests. Six of the world’s most destructive agribusinesses have received $44 billion in funding from more than 300 financial institutions and investment firms worldwide during 2013 and 2019. Of those six agribusinesses, three are just in the Amazon, two are in the Congo Basin, and one is in Papua New Guinea, the main tropical rainforest deforestation hotspots.

Global Witness also revealed the names of some of the world’s biggest financial institutions, including HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Santander, and Barclays, that provided billions of dollars in finance to companies that were directly or indirectly involved in deforesting the world’s biggest rainforests from 2013 to 2019. Though these businesses have formed their own deforestation rules, there are no consequences if they simply ignore them, as they frequently do. Because governments have failed to restrict the financing of deforestation, leaving foxes to take control of the henhouse. Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs are among the major investment banks involved in deforestation.

After the emergence of these reports in front of the global audience, firms started to regulate their practices, but they all were just a ruse. For example, in 2017, Deutsche Bank announced that it would not intentionally sponsor projects involving the destruction of primary tropical rainforests. However, typical of an investment firm chasing profits, as of April 2019, it owned approximately $11 million in JBS stock. JBS is a Brazilian business known for being the world’s largest meat production company, and it is also involved in deforestation in the Amazon Forest. Before its environmental policy, Deutsche Bank had already loaned the corporation $56.7 million in 2013.

Agribusiness – A Driver of Deforestation

Agricultural development is a direct cause of rapid deforestation and has resulted in the loss of forests in several tropical and subtropical states. It is responsible for over 80% of worldwide deforestation, most of it to supply commodities such as meat and palm oil, which are utilised regularly throughout the industrialised world. According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment, worldwide per capita supplies of soy, palm oil, and meat have more than doubled since 1961, with significant consequences for deforestation. 

In Brazil and Indonesia, large areas of forests have been cut down or burned in recent decades to clear space for agriculture, like beef, palm oil, and soy. In other Latin American states such as Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia, as well as Asian states of Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, agriculture is responsible for far more than just 80% of deforestation. These hotspots are primarily driven by the bigger scale of commodity production, with one exclusion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where forestland is primarily changed due to small-scale farming practices. 

Cattle Farming

According to various investigations and studies conducted, cattle ranches and soy farming are the most severe deforesters throughout Latin America and pose serious daily threats, mostly to the Amazon and Cerrado, tropical forests in Brazil, and the Grand Chaco spanning over Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. These cattle ranchers clear forests illegally so that they can make grazing fields for their cattle. These cattle are then shifted to legal sites once they are ready to be sold to meat processing companies, to hide the fact from the world that they are the reason for deforestation. For example, JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, has a long history of procuring cattle from deforested areas. In 2015, the Brazilian State Authorities confronted JBS, of buying thousands of cattle from an accused land-grabber dubbed the “biggest deforester of the Amazon” according to the police.

Over the years, Investigations have revealed that whole supply chains are complicit in the deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil, with a range of actors involved from cattle ranchers to the multinational meat traders, international financial institutions, supermarket chains and fast-food centres, and the regulatory government agencies are either destroying rainforests themselves or are in cahoots with them. Such well-placed chains are camouflaged under their marketing, due to their high stakes in global institutions, or simply because their dirty tactics keep them out of sight. JBS, Minerva Foods, and Marfrig Global are the three biggest meat-producing firms in the Amazon Forest and account for more than 45% of the continent’s cattle slaughtering capacity. All of them have put guidelines in their mandates and have agreed to take steps to conserve the forest even though their production line is tainted by deforestation, as well-known financial institutions help them stay afloat. 

Marfrig Global Foods is one of the largest meat production companies in the world. It is also a signatory of the Greenpeace pledge along with JBS. However, according to the Brazilian NGO Imazon’s 2017 publication, Marfrig’s Amazon processing stations procure cattle from the already deforested lands and the “deforestation-risk” regions, totalling over 1.3 million acres. According to Global Witness, the Eurozone’s largest bank, Santander, issued more than $1 billion in funding to Marfrig from the period of 2013 to 2018, while also funding an additional $300 million in 2018. After the latest Amazon fires sparked worldwide outrage, the cattle ranchers that supply Marfrig were among those singled out.

Palm Oil

While the above examples of deforestation have been mostly in the Amazon or Latin America, where cattle farming is the biggest reason among the agribusinesses, palm oil is the largest culprit of deforestation, closely followed by rubber, timber, and wood pulp, in Southeast Asian states like Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and many more. 

The third largest rainforest in the world stretches from Papua New Guinea to the Indonesian-owned West Papua, on the world’s second largest island of New Guinea, situated in Southeast Asia. The growth of palm oil was highlighted as the greatest serious threat to Papua New Guinea’s rainforest cover in a 2016 report commissioned by the World Bank. Indonesia lost the largest percentage of trees, 16% of the total, in 2000 compared to previous years. Palm plantations for sourcing oil and logging for timber and rubber are the leading sources of deforestation and accounted for nearly half of all deforestation in Indonesia from 2001 to 2016. As a result, Indonesia has become the largest producer of palm oil in the world, with practically all of the money coming from International and financial banks, according to the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

Similarly, the Malaysian corporation, Rimbunan Hijau Group (RHG) known as “Forever Green” in Malay, pun intended, is famous for its palm oil activities in Papua New Guinea spanning thousands upon thousands of acres of deforested land. The controversies surrounding these activities, which involve credible charges of corruption and forgery perpetuated at the cost of indigenous landholders, have already been exposed by Global Witness. It was revealed that RHG has deforested as many as 20,000 acres of forest for its palm plantations since 2008. Even after this revelation, they still have ambitions of growing over 31,000 acres of palm in the future, with no stop over them by the regulatory authorities. 

Global Witness also uncovered in 2013 how two Vietnamese businesses, financed by Deutsche Bank, acquired enormous stretches of land in Cambodia and Laos for palm and rubber plantations, which had terrible repercussions for local people and the ecology. The above example shows how global stakeholders perpetuate deforestation. The German bank’s investment in two Vietnamese businesses, whose activities are in the neighbouring states of Cambodia and Laos, is for commodities in demand by the industrialized world.

Effects Of Deforestation

Pension funds of ordinary people and huge funding by the international financial institutions are being funnelled into businesses that are fuelling the climate disaster, robbing indigenous peoples of their native lands and eliminating forests that are sanctuary to incalculable thousands of species of flora and fauna. 

The above examples show how agribusinesses cause deforestation, with a close follow-up of extensive lumbering for materials and construction. These reasons propagate problems like desertification, soil degradation, lesser crops, flooding, and higher greenhouse gas emissions, all culminating in the bigger climate change issue and a slew of other issues for indigenous people, resulting from the loss of forest cover and overall deforestation. Some of the effects of deforestation in the world, described in this paper, are climate change and the effects on the indigenous people or the communities.

Climate Change

Forests that are healthy absorb CO2 from the air and operate as excellent carbon repositories. Deforested areas lose this ability, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere. Tropical forests, in particular, are an important element of the global climate solution, and it would be impossible to stop the Earth from overheating if they can’t store carbon. The disappearance of trees allows for a higher release of greenhouse gases GHG into the atmosphere.  They are rich in biodiversity and home to endangered species, including orangutans, gorillas, chimps, forest elephants, and many other native species. Despite this, nearly 300 million acres of forest cover were lost between 2001 and 2015. 

The current climatic issue has increased the risk of wildfires and customary burning cycles, spiralling out of control. Extremely warm temperatures dry out ecological systems to the brink of vulnerability. During the past years, from eastern Siberia to Alaska and Greenland, the Arctic region, which is melting twice as quickly as the rest of the earth, saw a huge spike in wildfires. As the Arctic permafrost is thawing, it is sending billions of tonnes of carbon back into the atmosphere, hastening global warming while initiating a vicious cycle of increasing temperatures and even more fires. 

Tropical forests, such as those in the Amazon, Papua New Guinea, and Congo Basin, are essential for mitigating climate change. Forest preservation might account for over a third of the carbon reductions required to keep global warming below 2°C by 2030.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Effects of Deforestation on Indigenous People

Wherever there is the menace of deforestation, it is typically accompanied by human rights violations targeting those who have protected forests through generations. Indigenous populations or the forest communities that rely on forests and other natural resources, as well as environmental defenders, are among those fighting businesses, damaging forests, and climate change. One of the pre-emptive impacts of deforestation is the expulsion of indigenous people from their ancestral lands. Indigenous people are frequently evicted by either the governments of countries having rainforests or other powerful businesses before the actual cutting of forests occurs. 

Agricultural activities such as palm have changed millions of acres of forest land and other properties, wreaking havoc on community livelihoods. Although indigenous people have legal authority over practically all territory in Papua New Guinea, deforestation continues.  The indigenous populations that rely on the forests to preserve their lifestyle are at risk when enormous areas of forests are destroyed, causing exposed ground to wither away and die. The sanctuaries of countless species to be annihilated. Notwithstanding our dependence on the forest supplies, people in the more industrialised sections of the world cannot understand how the loss of trees directly or indirectly affects the indigenous people. As such, the sense of urgency of indigenous people is tenfold higher.

Coercion and violence follow these businesses into the forest. They exploit the indigenous people and use the police force against them when they do not comply with the businesses. For example, Peli Powai is a small village in Papua New Guinea, surrounded by forest and the Bismarck Sea. 40% of Papua New Guinea’s population lives under $1 a day, so when a Malaysian company called Maxland built them a road, they agreed. Maxland paid the local people only $45 for a tree that they cut from the forest while selling it for thousands of dollars on the international market. It was revealed in 2019 that Maxland earned $1.85 million from its exports, as shown in its monthly reports to forest authorities.

Lack of Regulation

Deforestation would have been the world’s 3rd biggest source of carbon emissions if it had been a country. As the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) took place in Glasgow, top businesses and states have emphasised the necessity of protecting forests, especially addressing the financing that supports their destruction. Several financial institutions have notably pledged to combat deforestation, which is sometimes linked to human rights violations or corruption. For example, the palm oil industry has been encouraged to subscribe to the no-deforestation policy by a consortium of 56 stakeholders, who have managed $7.9 trillion in total assets in these businesses. Similarly, a Soft Commodities Compact was signed by 12 major banks to achieve net-zero deforestation throughout the meat, palm oil, soy, and pulp or paper distribution networks of about 400 enterprises with overall sales of 3.5 trillion euros by 2020.

Businesses announcing new environmental policies know they will not be sufficient to stop climate change or their drive for deforestation. They are, however, using their massive public relations and connections to global leaders to shift the focus away from necessary changes that are required to keep people safe and valuable natural habitats, such as shifting to sustainable use of energy over fossil fuel, appropriate protective measures for climate-critical forests, and hold the companies accountable that harm the ecosystems and violate human rights. However, there is still a lack of accountability and transparency in how banks implement pledges, and it was revealed that signatories missed the 2020 deadline.

Despite a growing public desire for movement against deforestation, most significant businesses remain opaque about worldwide deforestation impacts. Approximately two-thirds of the 150 financial institutions surveyed by the NGO Global Canopy had no policies covering four main forest-risk commodities: meat, soy, palm oil, and timber. According to the NGO’s research, worldwide financial institutions have invested $20.9 billion in businesses that operate in Indonesia, are responsible for deforestation, and have been in the production of palm oil, paper, rubber, and timber during the last 8 years. 

Similarly, 70% out of 1,500 businesses in 2018 were required to provide information on four critical commodities leading to forest risk (cattle, palm oil, soy, and timber), but they failed to provide it. Throughout the last 3 years, over 350 of these businesses have repeatedly failed to disclose. Notwithstanding, the world’s major financial institutions appear to invest billions of dollars into businesses that clear forests, either directly or indirectly, frequently in flagrant noncompliance with their own environmental policies and official commitments. In 2019, the Global Resource Initiative Taskforce (GRI) gathered together large businesses, including Tesco and McDonald’s, with leading institutions like WWF, Green Finance Institute, and many others to examine how the impact of critical supply chains on climate could be reduced.

Despite this, corporate environmental transparency and response remain low. This jeopardizes corporate profits and impedes effective action against climate change and deforestation. According to jurisdictional approaches, if undertaken by all corporate stakeholders from all parts of the value chain, sustainable practices can improve lives while making them more adaptable. Nonetheless, as analysis reveals, even current environmental policies are routinely disregarded.

Mitigation

Tropical deforestation accounts for around 8% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. That is even higher than the European Union’s carbon emissions and only slightly less than that of the United States. So, prioritizing production free from deforestation should be the primary focus in a constantly changing world plagued by climate change.  Forests are an important part of the solution. One of the most important mitigation measures presently possible is to preserve the existing forests from land transformation. Only timely action can help improve the environment and preserve forests.  The major focus should be on the sustainable sourcing methods in production, which can save about 3.6 million acres of forest by 2025 and more than 5.7 million acres by 2030. 

Solutions to Deforestation

Studies find that the ultimate climate solution is large-scale reforestation worldwide, which would be more tremendously powerful than anybody can imagine. Experts from ETH Zurich determined in a recent publication that Earth could sustain roughly 2.5 billion new acres of forests without decreasing cities and farms. According to the analysis, these new trees might store a significant amount of extra carbon- to be exact, 200 gigatons of carbon- produced by industrial activities throughout the last 150 years, which makes two-thirds of all carbon emissions caused by humans.  In other words, we must preserve existing forests while planting as many new forests as possible. 

Avoiding deforestation might offer more than a 1/3 of the required cost-effective mitigation against climate change. But overall, the end to businesses involved in illegal deforestation, which impacts environmental and humanitarian violations, should be given prime importance. The need for new global measures is more than ever to make it illegal for businesses to function in a manner that harms the environment and violates human rights. Governments should be compelled to behave in the interest of the public and the environment by putting pressure on businesses that undermine efforts towards a sustainable and efficient future. By establishing regulatory measures, such as mandated due diligence, and then appropriately enforcing them, governments can tackle the financial institutions’ systemic failure and the businesses it invests in to combat deforestation and human rights violations.

The global banking sector will only add gasoline to the fires of deforestation unless quick action and strong regulatory changes are taken. The countries with these rainforests should be vigilant and implement policies and laws to address the role of businesses in fuelling deforestation. Financial institutions should investigate their funding to prevent the risks of deforestation. Governments must put binding regulations on all businesses operating within their borders and stop the money pipelines destroying our planet and its ecosystems.

An assessment of the present situation reveals that practically all commodity-based businesses are falling behind on their commitments, necessitating an immediate response. All of this can be solved if the guidelines are implemented by every regulatory authority for businesses operating within its borders. For example, to reduce the risks of deforestation, improve accountability and traceability across the whole value chain, and work on harnessing investments in long-term production by introducing sustainable standards for financial investments in the agribusiness and commodities production systems.

Conclusion

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that humanity has 11 years to prevent the catastrophic impact of climate change. Reduction in deforestation is a critical mitigation step in the fight to save our world in the light of the fast-expanding impacts of global climate change. Forests store carbon, provide plenty of ecological functions, and are one of the greatest biodiverse biomes on this planet. Notwithstanding their importance, forests, particularly tropical rainforests, are threatened by industrial activities. Annually, large portions of tropical rainforest are lost, with the demands in international markets playing a key role.

Each year, five million acres of forests are lost in the world. It will continue without responsible business action and transparency from businesses and financial institutions.  Production of meat, soy, palm oil, etc, on a large scale, all demand significant investments. The financial firms may be unable to fund damaging activities at commercially competitive rates if the leading banks and investment firms undertake sufficient due diligence standards. The financial system must be accountable for the effects of their funds and investments on forests, communities, and the environment. They must be held accountable to the world and its inhabitants, and the generations to come, to guarantee that they do not support deforestation or crimes against humanity. Firms in the financial industry should enhance their environmental policies and pledges and take concrete steps to guarantee that they are carried out successfully.

To successfully stop deforestation, all organisations in the supply chain must have commitments, initiatives, and engagement. Furthermore, expanding sustainable policies and actions outside of specific supply chain operations is critical to ending global deforestation and resolving the present climate catastrophe and related dangers. Businesses and their distributors play a critical role in reducing the threat of deforestation, and they should be made to do more. To effectively stop deforestation’s global menace, all actors in the economy must work together, including businesses, investment firms, governments, international organisations, civil society, and individual consumers. The need to maintain forests is ever greater if we are to have a chance at saving the earth. Only by taking a deliberate and joint action can we conserve the world’s critical forests.

---

References

1. “Annual Report 2020: Time for a Climate Revolution.” Global Witness. Last modified 2020. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/about-us/annual-report-2020-time-climate-revolution/.
2. “Bending the Truth.” Global Witness. Last modified 2019. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/bending-the-truth/.
3. “Biodiversity.” Population Matters | Every Choice Counts | Sustainable Human Population (blog). November 10, 2021. .
4. “Climate Critical Forests: Causes and Effects of Deforestation.” Global Witness. Accessed November 27, 2021. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/.
5. Dash, Hemang. “Deforestation is a global issue.” GULF NEWS, November 1, 2014.
6. “Effects of Deforestation.” The Pachamama Alliance – Bridging the Indigenous and Modern Worlds. Accessed November 27, 2021. https://www.pachamama.org/effects-of-deforestation.
7. IDH. “The urgency of action to tackle tropical deforestation.” IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, 2020. https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/uploaded/2020/02/IDH_The-UoA-to-Tackle-Tropical-Deforestation_2020-web.pdf.
8. “Money to Burn.” Global Witness. Accessed November 27, 2021. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/money-to-burn-how-iconic-banks-and-investors-fund-the-destruction-of-the-worlds-largest-rainforests/.
9. “Papua New Guinea.” Global Witness. Accessed November 27, 2021. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/all-countries-and-regions/papua-new-guinea/.
10. “Paris accord ‘impossible to implement’ if tropical forest loss not stopped.” Volckhausen, Taran. MONGABAY NEWS AND INSPIRATION FROM NATURE’S FRONTLINE, December 19, 2019. https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/paris-accord-impossible-to-implement-if-tropical-forest-loss-not-stopped/.
11. Saunders, Jade. “Tackling Deforestation is Balance of Local and Global.” Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank. Last modified November 30, 2020. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/11/tackling-deforestation-balance-local-and-global?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsZPf_puf9AIV3ZBoCR1jcgsaEAAYBCAAEgKiqvD_BwE.
12. “The Money Trees – CDP.” CDP, 2019. .
13. “Why Our Forests Are Burning.” Rainforest Alliance. Last modified November 24, 2021. https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/insights/why-our-forests-are-burning/.

---

If you want to submit your articles and/or research papers, please check the Submissions page.

The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.